Amazon to launch free video streaming service

Netflix is riding high right now, having just announced that their video streaming service is set to launch in both New Zealand and Australia next March, but they are not alone in the industry. They do have their competition. Speaking of which, Amazon will be rolling out a free streaming video service.

Since you can’t get anything for free in this world, this service would be supported by ads. The idea is that Amazon intends to spin the service off from Prime, Amazon’s premium membership club that costs $99 annually, where it offers one the ability to access its Instant Video service. This move may be all about Amazon getting itself a larger audience base. They are making original series of their own after all. They would like more people to watch them. For instance, Netflix has a staggering 33 million subscribers, while Amazon has about 25 million Prime members using its video service. Some are thinking that an ad-supported service decoupled from Prime is a Netflix killer. I don’t know if it would kill Netflix, but it would provide some healthy competition and another choice for consumers looking to watch fun content. It will be interesting to see what happens with this new service.